ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Adrian College Men's ACHA Division 1 hockey team hosted the Liberty Flames at the Arrington Ice Arena this past Thursday and Friday in their yearly rivalry series. In front of two packed crowds at the AIA, the Bulldogs shutout the Flames, 1-0, in game one, before dropping game two in overtime, 4-3.

The last time these two teams met was at the 2024 ACHA National Tournament when the Bulldogs erased the Flames in the quarterfinal round, making this one a highly anticipated series. The Bulldogs and Flames took the ice to begin the series on Thursday night in front of a nearly full Arrington Ice Arena, clawing back and forth and illustrating why each team is top-five nationally ranked each season. Tight defensive efforts and stellar goaltending for both teams kept the game close for the entire sixty minutes of play. A scoreless first was followed up by a scoreless first half of the second period, but just past the halfway mark of the middle frame, Cash Regan tallied a beautiful goal on the power-play off a passing play from Justin Jamer and David Dell to put the home team up by one. That was all the offense required in game one as the Bulldog defense and Adrian goaltender, Peyton Trzaska, who stood on his head for 29 shots and the shutout victory, fended off the Flames' late push to tie it. Shots in the game ended in Adrian's favor, 34-29.

Adrian and Liberty returned to the ice on Friday night in front of another packed crowd to close the series. This time around, both teams were able to generate some more offense as the Bulldogs opened the scoring just over a minute into the second period on a breakaway goal from Matthew DiCesare. The Flames tied it up shortly after, but the Bulldogs answered back with two more of their own, this time on a tally from Andreas Fleutot and a power-play goal from Jamer. Heading into the final frame up 3-1, the Bulldogs prepared to fend off the Flames once again, though Liberty had an answer as they scored twice to tie the game at 3-3, forcing sudden death overtime. Just short of three minutes into the five-minute overtime stanza, Liberty inserted the game-winner past Trzaska to earn the win and wrap up the series. Trzaska finished another remarkable weekend with a 38 save performance for his team on Friday.

The MD1 Bulldogs will continue their homestand next weekend as they host GL6 conference opponent, Roosevelt University, at the AIA on Friday at 7:00 PM and Saturday at 4:00 PM. The series will mark the Bulldogs' first as part of the GL6 Hockey Conference.